Merz changes CDU general secretary: Linnemann should succeed Czaja

After about a year and a half in office, CDU leader Merz is replacing his general secretary: Mario Czaja is succeeded by Carsten Linnemann. The decision was made “by consensus”.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz is replacing his general secretary Mario Czaja after a year and a half. Both had “agreed today to end their cooperation at the top of the party,” said the CDU. Carsten Linnemann, member of the Bundestag and head of the policy committee of the CDU, is to be his successor.

Merz will propose this Wednesday to the CDU executive and federal board of directors to appoint Linnemann as acting general secretary.

Merz announced on Twitter that the decision to change was not easy for him. He has known Czaja for a long time and appreciates him very much. This decision will not change anything about that.

Merz wants to support Czaja

Czaja will continue to play an important role in federal politics in the future. The CDU leader announced that he would personally work to ensure that the former Berlin Senator for Health and Social Affairs, Czaja, would take on a prominent role in the area of ​​health, care and social policy within the Union.

Czaja played a major role in the fact that the Union managed a successful restart after the federal elections in autumn 2021, the party was able to win state elections and “was able to take the lead in the parties’ struggle for the voters’ favour”. Merz thanked him “for his highly committed work over the past year and a half”.

Czaja in office since January 2022

Czaja was elected Secretary General in January 2022 with a good 94 percent of the vote. From 2011 to 2016 he was Senator for Health and Social Affairs in the Berlin Senate.

Within the party, however, there had been dissatisfaction with Czaja for a long time. He was considered by some to be the wrong choice and he was accused, among other things, of not being sufficiently present in public. He was also not heard in party organizations in the federal states.

Linnemann is considered economics expert

The 45-year-old Linnemann is considered an economic expert in the party – Merz should expect support on this topic. The party leader wants to make economic policy more of a topic for the CDU in the future. From 2013 to 2021 he headed the SME and Economic Union – with around 25,000 members, the largest party-political business association in Germany.

Linnemann has been deputy CDU chairman since 2022. He has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009 and was a member of the federal executive committee of the CDU from 2013 to 2021. Under Merz, he is responsible for working on his party’s new basic program.

Czaja wishes Linnemann “energy and clever ideas”

Czaja wished his designated successor “energy and bright ideas” for the fulfillment of his task. He wished his party “that it consistently pursues the course it has taken of opening up and developing from a member party to a participatory party that campaigns for a new culture of belonging with moderation and center in the breadth of society”.

He also hopes that it will be possible to “convince people in such a way that the Union will become the strongest political force everywhere after the upcoming elections and be able to assume government responsibility”.

Source: Konrad Adenauer Foundation